


The Forgotten Prince (One Shots)

by RobynTheDragon



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: AHIT AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Forgotten Prince AU, Major focus on Snatcher and Subcon, The warnings are for gore and dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-01 16:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19181836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobynTheDragon/pseuds/RobynTheDragon
Summary: One shot fics that have one story per chapter that don't quite fit into the story line I'm currently working on for the AU. These one shots happen during various times that will be specified at the header notes per chapter!





	1. Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did the two ghosts come to be? What could have happened to the dear prince to turn him into such demons...

It had been such a long trip, Kristopher was exhausted. The young prince walked casually through his hometown of Subcon, enjoying the familiar sights and sounds of the village. It was so good to be back home! Studying at law school was rather rough on him, he was learning quite a lot thanks to the prestigious school he had chosen. His status as a royal also helped him get in, and he was certainly making the most of it. The school was rather far away and it took him a few days to just travel from the campus to his home.

As much as he loved learning, it took a lot of his time, and he was away from home, and his princess. How his heart ached from being apart for so long, he knew how much she hated being away from him, and guilt infected his conscious. He wished he could have come back sooner, she always told him how much she wanted him to stay and “never return to school”. He adored that about her, how she always wanted him. The feeling of being wanted and loved, to be missed after only being gone a short while. His heartbeat quickened as he remembered he would be seeing her again soon though.

A colorful shop caught the prince’s eye, and his expression brightened as an idea popped into his head. He strolled over to the display, where there was a wide arrangement of beautiful flowers, all tucked up in neat boques to purchase. The shopkeep was a fair young lady with pale skin, freckles, and long red hair tied back into a braid. Approaching with a smile, he waved to grab her attention.

“Hello! I was wishing to purchase some of your lovely flowers!” He chimed, his heart fluttered in excitement, Vanessa would love some of these! The red headed girl clasped her hands together.

“Oh! Hello young prince! I see you’ve returned from your studies!” She smiled sweetly, “Some flowers for the princess?” The prince nodded and walked over to the various arrangements of flowers. He picked out a bouquet of beautiful purple and white flowers, the deep royal purple was stunning, and the white was so pure. She would love them! The prince happily reached into his bag and placed a shiny gold coin into the florist's hand.

“Thank you so much! These are perfect-” his thank-you was cut off by the sound of loud shuffling from one of the alleyways. He barely got a glimpse of some figure running away, and they sounded rather... distressed. Kristopher shook his head and looked back at the florist, taking the flowers. He thanked her again quickly before starting to make his way to the manor. He chalked up the mystery person to be some kid meddling around, or something of the sort. Subcon always had weird things happening anyway.

The air was brisk, the sky a bit more overcast than when he first arrived. He held his cloak closer to his body, hiding the flowers carefully under his arm. A few guards cladden in metal gave him a subtle nod, letting him walk through the gates and up to the doors of the manor. A dumb grin spread across his face, he was so excited to see her again, and anticipated her reaction to his gift!

The prince entered the manor, a servant taking his cloak and hanging it up. He dusted himself off and stepped over to a mirror. He preened himself, fixing his hair, adjusting his coat, and making sure he looked perfect just for her. Satisfied with how he looked, he made his way upstairs to where he assumed she would be. The door to her bedroom was ajar, and he approached slowly, carefully opening the door and peering inside. She was there, facing the wall, papers and pictures were scattered on the floor, but the excited young prince was too distracted to notice. He opened the door and held the flowers out for her to see.

“My dearest Vanessa! I’ve returned, and I’ve brought something to show my dedication and love for you!” He smiled warmly, but it faded as she didn’t budge or turn around. He suddenly felt the chill in the room. “My princess, are you alrig-” he was cut off as she whipped around, she looked furious, her eyes shining and her face stained with tears. His expression quickly turned to a concerned look, and before he could say anything else, she yelled at him,

“You… _betrayed_ me! You lied to me, you don’t love me!” Her voice cracked, tears spilling to the floor. The prince was confused, his heart sinking as her words cut deep into his soul. 

“My princess I would never-” He yelped as she screamed and knocked over books and furniture in a rage, then he noticed her hands. They were sharpening into claws, turning dark, the color slowly crept up her arms. Vanessa’s eyes glared at him, shining red with rage and… magic. 

“I saw you with her! You were with that girl, you were cheating on me! I knew I shouldn’t have let you leave...” her voice was shaking, her eyes wide in panic as she pulled at her hair. Frosted air swept around the room, the darkness creeping further up her arms, and Kristopher felt truly scared, by his own princess.

He knew there was magic in this world, but it was very rare that a human would ever possess magical abilities. He had heard a rumor that Vanessa’s family came from a long line of ice magic users, and that they were notorious for their lack of control. As a family from the north, it was easy for records to be lost or doctored to avoid controversy. Kris was smart though, and did plenty of research out of his concern for Vanessa and his own curiosity. He always worried that deep down she would end up having this magic power and the worst would happen, so he watched her and made sure to keep her happy. He realized that the figure running away from him earlier must have been her, and she had gotten the wrong idea. There was a way to stop this, he was determined to save her before it was too late.

“Vanessa, my dear, I wished to purchase flowers for you, so I went to a shop in the village. The woman you saw was the shopkeep, I was paying her for these-” He presented the beautiful purple and white flowers carefully. Vanessa’s posture softened and her eyes mellowed, reaching out slowly for the bouquet. _She was just scared she lost me, I just have to let her know I’m not going anywhere._ “See? I promise I will never leave you. I’m not going anywhere,” he said softly, reaching out with his other hand to hold hers. Suddenly, she recoiled and hissed, screeching as she shoved him back, knocking the flowers to the ground. He fell backwards, hitting his head on the wall behind him. His vision became blurry as he was dazed, the room getting colder, magic energy saturating the room. Ice crystals started to replace Vanessa’s tears as she loomed over him, her eyes glowing a bright red. Kristopher tried to focus, and a heart-broken Vanessa stood over him, her face twisted in rage and sadness.

“You… left me. You hurt me, and then you were going to leave again,” Her body darkened with magic, and the prince started to panic, dread settling in his chest. _No… no…_ She reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, picking him back up to his feet. “You’re going to pay for hurting me… and I’m gonna keep you _forever_ …” she whispered, her face inches from his. Ice started to form around the walls and ceiling, he felt his skin frost and his fingers go numb. 

A sharp, agonizing pain shot through his body. A wave of shock held him in place, as he slowly looked down.

A massive, sharp, ice shard had sprung through the wall behind him, and cut right through his chest. He couldn’t breathe, blood bubbled in the back of his throat as he coughed, spilling more red liquid everywhere. His blood spilled onto the floor, staining the ice shard with crimson as he felt his life leak out of him. Vision blurring, strength leaving, and his heart failing, everything faded to black...

Vanessa stepped back and let go of him, a sinister and malicious smile plastered on her face as she tilted her head and giggled. That sound echoed in his mind for his last few seconds of consciousness…

…

A dim light shone through the darkness. His body felt numb and weightless.

…

Another light. The prince slowly blinked his eyes open, taking in the scene around him.

_Am I… dead?_

As he focused on the room he was in, he realized he didn’t even have that luxury. He was in the cellar of the manor. Recognizing the barrels and brick walls, he realized that he was chained to one of the walls, now covered in ice. 

That’s when the pain hit him. 

He remembered what happened, looking down and seeing the shard of crimson-stained ice still protruding from his chest. His breathing was shallow and difficult, and he felt his body ache in agonizing pain. His ribs were twisted and splintered, and god knows what happened to his internal organs. He wasn’t even sure blood was pumping through his body. He wondered how he was able to think and breathe, it wasn’t even possible for him to be alive right now…

A large door swung open from across the cellar, startling him from his thoughts. With just enough energy to lift his head, he saw a dark crimson and black ghost figure. Eyes and crystal jewelry glowed a brighter red as it turned to look at him. A sick, twisted feeling grew in his chest as he recognized the crown adorned on it’s head. She was.. a demon… a ghost with sharp claws, magic saturated with evil emitted from her. Vanessa made her way over to where the prince hung chained to the wall.

“My prince…” She ran a single clawed finger under his jaw line. He looked terrified. “I’m glad to see you haven’t left me yet!” She chuckled. “My mother had an… “accident” the other day, so tragic really. Not that I care that she’s dead, but I’m the queen now, and you can’t call me your princess anymore! Life just isn’t FAIR!” She screamed, throwing her arms down in a fit of rage. The water froze at her feet, Kristopher winced as the frost crept closer to him. The crimson ghost flipped her hair over her shoulder and scoffed. 

“I had to make sure you didn’t leave me ever again, so here we are! We can be together forever, isn’t that wonderful?” She scooted close to him, her finger tapping at the ice shard in his chest. The prince couldn’t quite process everything that had happened yet, and in way too much pain to speak, he just sat there and looked at her, mortified. Tears started to well up in his eyes. “Don’t worry my prince, I made sure you won’t die, aren’t these powers just wonderful? You just get to stay there and suffer a bit, a broken heart for another broken heart, right?” She grinned, satisfied with her logic. “Anyway, I have some things to do, don’t go anywhere!” She laughed maniacally, leaving him in the cellar and slamming the door shut behind her.

Tears started pouring down his cheeks, even though he couldn’t make a sound. So much pain shot through every part of his body, the cuffs on his wrists and neck, the ice through his chest, the emptiness in his heart…

_I… failed. I couldn’t save her from the madness. I couldn’t..._

He interrupted himself.

**You’re kidding right? She was mad all along, what kind of sane person would murder the person they love even with magic? There’s nothing you could have done.**

_She trusted me and I let her down. I shouldn’t have gone off to school, she was always more important to me._

**She only loved the idea of you and possessing you. It wasn’t real love. This was bound to happen anyway.**

_If only I hadn’t gotten those flowers, maybe we could be happy together right now, looking at the stars or just enjoying each other’s company…_

**She couldn’t see that you loved her. She only saw what she wanted to see, an excuse to trap you forever.**

_I opened my heart to her…_

**...and then she tore it apart.**

 

...


	2. Little Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did Prince Snatcher get his head minion? She seems rather different than the rest... (This takes place before Hat Kid arrives on the planet/Pre-game)

Wow, there really wasn’t _anything_ to do. 

Nobody had wandered into the prince’s forest for days, his last contractee finished up all of his chores several days ago and he had already been... disposed of. Souls don’t grow on trees, and Prince Snatcher was hungry. He never got enough to eat anyway.

The ghost got up from his chair and put his book down, and decided to wander through his forest. He checked various places for trouble, and talked to his minions to pass the time. Luckily the _moon corpse_ wasn’t around to bother him today, however he was so bored that he probably wouldn’t mind messing with him anyway. He needed to get payback on him, Snatcher’s minions kept disappearing and he just knows it was him. He thinks he can just steal his minions with his little strings…

In his fuming, the prince didn’t notice the new soul in his forest. He can sense when souls arrive in his domain, but since he was so focused on getting revenge on Moon, he didn’t notice this one until a figure flew past him in the trees. The ghost blinked and shook his head. 

_What was THAT?_

He whipped around and watched the figure fly away. It was a soul, something had wandered into his forest, finally! He grinned and bolted after it. From what he could tell, it was a very powerful soul, something he didn’t recognize. He had seen the souls of owls, mafia men, cats, you name it; but this was something… different? It felt weirdly familiar. Suddenly the soul he was chasing after completely vanished. He couldn’t detect it anymore. Stopping in his tracks, he hissed and looked around frantically. He was _not_ about to let this one get away.

The soul reappeared. It seemed dimmer than before, almost like it was a less powerful version of the one he saw previously. Hiding into a shadow on the ground, he made his way toward his prey. Prince Snatcher approached, hidden in the shadows, and actually got a visual on the trespasser. It looked like it was a human girl, in jeans and a hoodie. Her hair was long, royal purple, and unusually spikey. Getting a better look, she actually had weird, long ears. Didn’t matter though, whatever they were, they were about to have their soul snatched. 

Snapping his fingers, dark purple vines covered in thorns sprung up from the ground around the human. He heard her gasp and spin around, startled at the noise. The environment turned purple and lightning flashed as Snatcher’s trap sprung to life. The ghost rose up from the ground, bringing himself to his full height in front of the girl, and started to laugh maniacally.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAH! FOOOOOOOOOL! You’ve just entered the domain of Prince Snatcher, and now you must pay the-” his booming voice came to a halt as he looked down at her. She was staring daggers up at him, looking more annoyed than anything. 

That’s when he noticed.  
“You’re not alive” He deadpanned. She raised a brow and crossed her arms.

“A-huh, I’m guessing you aren’t either?” The girl jabbed. The prince’s eye twitched. The undead and their souls were a huge pain to deal with, since they weren’t mortals. Taking their soul wasn’t easy, because their physical form technically _was_ their soul, with a shape. 

To make a long story short, he couldn’t take her soul.

“Look, sir Snatcher, I really didn’t mean to trespass. From one ghost to another, maybe we could just let this slide and I’ll be on my way. I mean, you wouldn’t want to deal with a dragon, would you?” She held out a hand and snapped, purple fire sparking at her fingertips. Snatcher squinted as she grinned at him with sharp teeth, he noticed she also had glowing magenta eyes, slitted like that of a dragon. He thought back to the first glance he got of this perpetrator, zooming through his forest. Dragon would make sense. The Prince of Subcon started to actually worry a bit, but wouldn’t dare let that show. How dare she have this attitude in the first place, even if she was some scary ghost-dragon-thing.

“That’s _Prince_ Snatcher to you! You don’t seem to know who you’re dealing with here, little spark. I don’t care what you are, you are in _my_ forest so you follow _my_ rules. The only person around here making any kind of deal is _me!_ ” A contract and a feather pen manifested from nothing with a wave of his hand. “Since you’re... well… of the not-living variety, I’m afraid I’m going to have to offer you a different kind of deal,” he may not be able to steal her soul, but perhaps she could be of use to him still. She raised a brow and took the contract, reading over the details. The dragon hissed and recoiled, 

“WHAT!? A minion? For the rest of my “after-life”!? Why would I ever sign-” her outburst was cut short as Snatcher got inches from her face in an instant. He raised his claws close to her face, putting one sharp index finger under her neck.

“You either sign this, or I rip apart your ethereal body like parchment paper.” His patience was wearing thin, he already didn’t like that he couldn’t take her soul. He was also still very hungry, and it was a terrible shame he couldn’t eat a powerful soul like hers. Killing for no reason certainly wasn’t his style, but he absolutely had to deal with threats to his forest, and put pesky trespassers in their place. Snatcher was lucky she had been caught in one of his traps, he wasn’t sure if he’d actually be able to follow through with his threat if he didn’t have the upper hand. The girl’s long ears dropped slightly, some of the edge draining from her posture.

“H-hey look, I’m sorry-”

“Put your name on the contract, _now_ ” His voice deepened into a growl. Her expression changed to a worrisome one, and she took the pen, hesitantly signing her name at the bottom. Once the contract had been signed, the pen and paper disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Prince Snatcher reeled back and bellowed,

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! Welcome to the life of a minion, little spark!” He grinned widely, and with a flash of magic, she was now wearing the cloak of a minion. She looked like a taller version of one of his minions, her long ears sticking out from the side of her hood. The trap faded away, and they were now standing in the familiar woods of Subcon. Snatcher grinned and floated closer to her, 

“See, because of that fancy little contract, your ‘powers’ have been limited. You get to stay in that form until I say so. Isn’t it thrilling to sign your life away?” he teased, secretly very glad he got her to cooperate, breathing an internal sigh of relief. She looked at her claws, noticing her whole body (except her face) had been turned into a shadow, and took off her hood to make eye contact with him.

“Look, I may have signed your contract,” She walked up to him and placed a clawed finger on his chest, “but I’m not going to run around being your little servant for your amusement.” The dragon seemed to have quite the spark to her still. Lucky for her, he was in a better mood now that he got someone around here to sign a contract, so he played along. He grabbed her hand and yanked her closer to his face,

“You’ll do what I say whether you like it or not, Spark.” he teased, chuckling as her eyes widened, a weak, nervous smile on her face. The prince gave her a smug look and let her go, and she fell backwards and landed on her back. He winked at her,

“Remember, now you have contractual obligations. I know you won’t let me down, dragon.” he disappeared into a shadow, leaving her to take care of the chores he listed on his contract. 

She could be very useful to him indeed, but that didn’t help the fact that he was still hungry. And… was it just him, or did she seem flustered?


	3. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Prince Snatcher has been turned into a human, he often takes Spark with him in his ventures for souls; of course since his powers are weakened. This unfortunately also means Spark gets _tangled_ up in his shenanigans as well...

With a sharp snap, vines rose from the ground and pulled the two off their feet. What seemed to be a large net, similar to the one Snatcher used to trap Hat Kid for the first time, had pulled Prince Snatcher and Spark off the ground into the trees. It was a makeshift net, made out of purple vines covered in small spikes, it clearly wasn’t one of his. He would have made his much nicer. Far-off giggling echoed in the trees, and he recognized it immediately. _That hat-wearing brat is going to pay for this prank-_

The prince hissed and tried to adjust himself, and he found himself pressed up next to Spark, who was stiff as a board. They were back to back, some of their limbs tangled in the vine-ropes. Her glowing magenta eyes twitched from under the hood as she realized the predicament they were both in.

“Did… Hat Kid just trap us in a net?” She asked, almost like she couldn’t believe it.

“Yeaup. She’s going to pay for this,” He deadpanned, yanking his arm out of a tangle of vines. 

“Can you use your magic to get us out of here?” Her voice shook. Prince Snatcher tried to get a spark from his fingers. No dice. He remembered that the entire reason they got stuck out here was because he was lured by some souls, and he was hungry. Using magic, especially as a human, didn’t exactly go well when he didn’t get anything to eat. He cursed under his breath.

“No, I’m out of power. Can’t you use your fire?” He knew she still had some magic power as a minion, she was a dragon after all. He felt her shake her head.

“I… can’t, ever since you turned into a human I’ve barely been able to use magic. Whatever affected you might be affecting me too. Maybe we can just break the vines-”

“Wait, don’t-!”

Spark yelped. Snatcher shook his head. He knows these kinds of vines can’t just be broken by hand.

“What happened...”

“I cut myself on the thorns…” She hissed. The sharp scent of blood hit his nose, he suddenly wondered how bad she cut herself. _What? It shouldn’t matter. She’s a ghost like me, it’s not like she’ll die or something._ The thought still nagged him though. He tried moving around in the net, attempting to adjust himself to face her.

“Try to turn around,” he instructed. She managed to get herself to face him, but her legs were still kind of stuck facing to the side. Without saying a word, he grabbed the hand he noticed was injured and inspected it. There was a deep gash through the palm, bright magenta blood oozed from the wound. After thinking for a moment, he got an idea. Grabbing the end part of his cloak, he eyeballed a correct size and tore off an end piece of cloth. He carefully wrapped Spark’s clawed hand with the makeshift bandage, tying it up and nodding, proud of his handiwork. Her face glowed a bit more than usual, and she looked away.

“...thanks,” she murmured. Snatcher suddenly realized he hadn’t let go of her hand. He quickly let go and looked away, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. He just had to make sure the head minion was fit to do work, that was all. Nothing more...

A sharp snap echoed above them, and the two ghosts looked up. The branch that was supporting their net broke, and they were about to fall. Snatcher squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact, but the vines caught on another branch. They had fallen a few feet, and gotten stuck again. Unfortunately, the ruckus caused them to bump into each other, and when they came to a stand-still, the prince found himself pressed up against the dragon. Her hood had been shaken off, and their faces were inches apart. Of course, Snatcher’s arms had been tangled in vines on the other side of her, so he was stuck with his chest pressed against her. He felt color rush to his face.

“Erm, well this is quite a predicament,” He laughed nervously, trying to free himself from the vines. She just looked extremely shocked, and didn’t say a word. She then seemed to snap out of it and shook her head and her ears dropped down.

“Hah, this sure is embarrassing,” her cheeks flushed a shade of purple. Embarassing was right. It was enough for Hat Kid to prank them, but forcing them to be humiliated like this made his blood boil. Even so, he felt a warm feeling in his chest after being in such close proximity to the girl. Something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. _I don’t think I’ve ever been this physically close to someone since-_ he pushed away the thought. It was already enough that the kid started to really grow on him, but now Spark? She was just a minion to him. _But she’s so loyal, not to mention pretty-_ He gritted his teeth hard, turning his face away from hers. _What am I even SAYING?!?_

He scoffed and continued trying to free himself from the tangled makeshift rope. Spark tried to help, but her squirming just made it more difficult; for him to get untangled _and_ to focus. He blamed his human emotions for giving away his embarrassment, his face turning red.

Childish laughter echoed below them, and they looked down. The little gremlin herself was standing nonchalantly, leaning on her umbrella. She smiled at them and waved, flipping up her umbrella and pointing it at the ropes supporting them. _Oh no._ With a flash of sparks, a beam of light shot from the tip of the weapon, and burned away the vines. They tumbled to the ground, landing in a mess of vines and dust. The dust cloud make the ghosts cough, and once again, Prince Snatcher found himself in an odd position, laying flat on his stomach on top of Spark. She groaned and tried to lift her head, just to give up, laying sprawled on the ground. Snatcher looked up, and glared daggers at Hat Kid. Her smile faded as she saw his eyes shine a bright yellow, and he bolted upward, careful not to step on Spark.  
“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE-” He ran after her, and the young girl scrambled away, laughing at the flustered Prince of Subcon.


End file.
